The History of the Aćharʹîta

In August, 1985, I had the excellent fortune of working with Ghâziuddin Khân and
Muhammad Musharaf, two prominent and enthusiastic brothers from the phaṭakêʹ clan of
Aćharêʹt. Although most of my brief research with them concentrated on the lexicon and phonology of
the language of Aćharêʹt, I was able to make a short tape recording of an extemporaneous account of the
history of the Aćharʹîta (the people of Aćharêʹt), given by Ghâziuddin Khân. The transcription of that
account appears below, with an English translation. Poor recording circumstances rendered the tape
difficult to transcribe in some places; bracketed question marks follow phrases whose transcription or
translation are best guesses.

Having fought with our agnates over land and government, we were defeated, and we fled and came
from Chilâs to Chitrâl. Then in Chitrâl we became residents in a place called Aćharêt. After becoming
residents, we remained here. We had come before the Rais government. After that came the
government of Khairullah. After Khairullah came the Kaṭuré government. Our grandfathers took
Aćharêt from the Kalashas, developed it, and have been in this homeland for approximately eight or nine
hundred years' time.

Our grandfathers conquered Giḍ, Harandu, and the Harandu Valley, with the assistance of the Raises.
Our ultimate grandfather, Mitraʹi, was a sister's son of the Giḍ people. They killed another of our
grandfathers while he was getting [?] the grazing fee, and carried off this one Mitraʹi. After they carried
him off, when our grandfather grew up, he was asked, "Isn't it so [?], that your father is coming over from
there and hitting us or going around [?] to us? Having asked his mother and ascertained that [they were]
his father's enemies, the son [?] went over to the Raises, did one year's service, and from there got that
assistance, came down, and conquered Giḍ, Harandu, Langurbat, the Harandu Valley, and Râmram.
After having conquered them, he came back. He came to Aćharêt and became a resident.

We in Ashret, the offspring of Mitraʹi, are approximately three, three-and-a-half thousand inhabitants
now. We are flourishing in Aćharêt. The mountains and the mountain pastures are ours. From then
until now we have been living in our own homeland for these approximately eight or nine hundred years
as the Shina tribe; our first grandfatherʹs name was Mac̣ôʹk. After Mac̣ôʹk the name of our ultimate
grandfather in Aćharêt was Mitraʹi. We are still making our lives in this homeland, and our language is
Shina. We are one people from Chilâs; originally, we are from Chilâs. From among them we, our tribe,
are attached to the Shîng tribe, from within Gilgit. We are originally the offspring of the Shîng tribe; from
that, through one son to another to Mac̣oʹk, we are among Mac̣ôkʹs offspring. Enough.

[Click here to hear the recording (MP3
format, 714 Kb) of the following paragraph.]

We came from Chilâs via the Gupis route to Laspur. In Laspur there were four
brothers. The four brothers came, and one brother remained in Laspur. There our grandfathers made
much honor with the Rais Khân, and one of our brothers was given a place at Laspur. One was given [a
place] in the Shishi Valley; there's a town called Kalâʹs there. One was given [a place] in Aćharêt.
Around the time of Khairullah's war half of our brothers down here went and seized [the country] down to
Chagha Sarai, and half of our brothers remained there in one town, whose name is Sâu. Those four
brothers went and came to this homeland with that history, and [we] are still settled here, even
now.

Another version that I was told, which was recorded in my notes in English but not on tape, goes as
follows:

The ancestors of the people of Aćharêʹt were driven out of Chilâs
to Tangir, because thay had a fight among themselves over leadership. There the faction from Chilâs
attacked and drove them out of Tangir. They fled to Laspur. There were three brothers: lʹaphur,
c̣ôʹk, and mac̣ôʹk. Laphur remained in Laspur, C̣ôʹk came to Aćharêʹt, and Mac̣ôʹk went
on to Sâu. This was in the time of Khairullah, a mehtar who lived before [sic!] the time of the Rais
mehtars.

The refugees were at that time kâfirs, and the area around Aćharêʹt was inhabited by the
Kalash, ruled by Naghar Shah, who gave the refugees shelter. Later he imposed a grazing tax on them.
They paid for a while; but the burden became too great, and the refugees decided to get rid of Naghar
Shah. They sent a woman crying to Naghar Shah's fort at Mirkhani, to say that everyone had fled to Dir
because they could no longer pay the tax. He got angry and set out in pursuit, only to fall into an
ambush. The Aćharʹîta killed him, and his blood still stains the place where he fell. They routed the
Kalash from the valley, which thenceforth was theirs. One Kalash family remained in hiding. Later they
were found, and they settled with the Aćharʹîta. Their descendants live in Aćharêʹt today, about thirty
families. Today the Aćharʹîta comprise about seven hundred families. They are called ḍangarʹiks
because they came from ḍangʹari, a valley by Chilâs.